Ross and Christian Aviles combined for a five-inning, one-hit shutout in the opener.

Ross (5-0) struck out four in four innings and Aviles fanned two in one perfect inning of relief. Kollen Roohr's first-inning double was the Chieftains' (7-11, 2-5 SCH) only hit.

"Ross doesn't overpower batters," said St. Mary's coach Sean Gallagher. "He's a spot pitcher and has an incredible changeup."

Ross sparked the Crusader (15-5, 5-2) offense with an RBI triple in the first inning and a run-scoring double in the second as St. Mary's jumped out to a 5-0 lead.

Daniel Seus was 2-for-2 with an RBI for the Crusaders.

In Game 2, Isola (4-1) tossed four innings without surrendering an earned run to pick up the victory. Isola led the offense with three hits and three RBIs. Isola scored what proved to be the winning run when he singled in the fourth and scored on Ross' double.

Aviles pitched two innings of relief and had a two-run double in the second.

"We're really starting to step it up," said Gallagher. "We're not doing any of the big things wrong. We're playing clean baseball."

NORTH VALLEY 7-7, PHOENIX 4-0 — At Merlin, Joseph Calzada collected a pair of hits in each game and North Valley ended a three-game conference losing streak.

In the opener, North Valley (15-6, 6-3 Sky) erased a 2-0 deficit with six runs in the fourth inning. The Knights scored five runs after two were out and Marco Garmendia accounted for the big blow with a two-run double.

Calvin Decker had two hits and one RBI and Justin McCreadie belted a two-run double in the seventh for Phoenix, which has lost 11 of its last 12 games.

Dylan Dupont tossed a three-hit shutout with eight strikeouts in Game 2.

Garmendia added two hits and one RBI and Knights' leadoff hitter Josh Cowell got on base four times and scored twice.